Is Mast climbing just for small people.......

Billjratt said:
Been doing it successfully for years. YES YES YES.
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I think Puddock's comment referred to a terrible incident where people lost fingers due to using a power winch to get up a mast.

I would never suggest people use a power winch, because if they don't know what they are doing it can be very dangerous.
It might be different if an experienced person was on hand to spot the cock ups before they happened.
Getting up there is really no more work than climbing a couple of flights of stairs.

Clearly people asking on here don't know the pitfalls of the operation, that is why they are asking. Hence I would not want to encourage them to use a power winch of any sort.
A windlass may break the halyard or blocks etc if allowed to grind the shackle into the masthead.
Other safety tips: Don't rely on snap shackles to secure your harness, they can snag on things and release. Either tie the halyard on or tape up the shackle.
Test everything with your weight one foot off the deck.

If you can't find some friends to help you, find a better yacht club?
 
lw395 said:
I think Puddock's comment referred to a terrible incident where people lost fingers due to using a power winch to get up a mast.
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Why is that deemed to be due to hoisting someone up the mast? Surely the same accident could have occurred while sheeting a genoa or hoisting a mainsail? And yet nobody shouts "NO NO NO" when people propose installing an electric winch for those purposes.

I can understand the idea of a runaway winch damaging the halyard or associated fittings and causing someone to fall (but surely only onto their backup?) - but of the three responses in this thread which bothered to give a reason (rather than just shouting "NO NO NO"), two cited mangled fingers vs only one about overrunning.

Pete
 
Another echo for NEVER EVER USE THE ANCHOR WINDLASS. Sticky solonoid or switch, a riding turn, a moments inattention as you shout something from the top of the mast and you could very easily, at best break the halliard or even pull the mast down. Imagine with you at the top of it!!

I have used 'Mast Mount' for 16 years. 6'1" and 15 stone. Never a moment's problem but I am not sure that they are still made. I can not find them on the net.

A stiff webbing strap, with webbing steps, which fold down as the main strap is hoisted up the sail grove, with your main halliard or topping lift and whatever type of slugs you use. Light, easy to store, if you ever see one get it.
 
prv said:
Why is that deemed to be due to hoisting someone up the mast? Surely the same accident could have occurred while sheeting a genoa or hoisting a mainsail? And yet nobody shouts "NO NO NO" when people propose installing an electric winch for those purposes.

I can understand the idea of a runaway winch damaging the halyard or associated fittings and causing someone to fall (but surely only onto their backup?) - but of the three responses in this thread which bothered to give a reason (rather than just shouting "NO NO NO"), two cited mangled fingers vs only one about overrunning.

Pete
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I have seen a 14mm halliard broken and the block at the top of the mast destroyed. This was on a dutch boat in our marina. At that time he was attempting to hoist his sail but a few moments before he had hoisted his crew using the same method. If the same inattention had happened at that time, he might have killed his crew, who was not wearing a safety line.

Do not advocate this dangerous practice. There are many people, who might believe you. PLEASE.
 
Digbydog said:
Do not advocate this dangerous practice. There are many people, who might believe you. PLEASE.
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You seem to have missed my point. You're talking about an overrunning winch breaking stuff.

I'm talking about mangled fingers, and why people are only scared of that when hoisting bodies and not sails. The distinction doesn't seem to make any sense.

Pete
 
prv said:
Why is that deemed to be due to hoisting someone up the mast? Surely the same accident could have occurred while sheeting a genoa or hoisting a mainsail? And yet nobody shouts "NO NO NO" when people propose installing an electric winch for those purposes.

I can understand the idea of a runaway winch damaging the halyard or associated fittings and causing someone to fall (but surely only onto their backup?) - but of the three responses in this thread which bothered to give a reason (rather than just shouting "NO NO NO"), two cited mangled fingers vs only one about overrunning.

Pete
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I only cited missing fingers because the evidence was presented to me by a sufferer.

However, the point surely is that if a powered cockpit winch jams on (as per a recent report) damage to the person is more easily avoided. It is conceivable something can break;- a halyard, a sheet or the structure. There is however, more time to dodge the debris.

If someone is being hoisted up a mast, the danger is that the person doing the hoisting is probably looking upwards which is the right and proper thing to do. Thus their attention is not on the winch. It may be self tailing, in which case the hoister could stand clear. However, if the winch jams on (and another visitor to our LBS stand reported this) the line eventually tightens taking with it anything or anyone attached to it. When it is prevented from further movement, something will have to give. (The above visitor reported that the winch stalled with unfortunate electrical consequences but no personal injury.) The other possibilities are obvious but are all catastrophic to some degree.

If the winch is hand driven, any trapping of the fingers worsens as the handle is turned with the immediate reaction to stop.

There are other instances of damage to the person winching but surely the message is clear.

Don't use a powered winch to ascend a mast. It is not worth the risk.
 
prv said:
You seem to have missed my point. You're talking about an overrunning winch breaking stuff.

I'm talking about mangled fingers, and why people are only scared of that when hoisting bodies and not sails. The distinction doesn't seem to make any sense.

Pete
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Sorry Pete I was still talking about the OP's question.

I certainly agree that all winches are very dangerous, if people are not carefully trained in their use. However I do see a distinction between the person operating the winch, who might loose his fingers because of inattention or inexperience and the person at the top of the mast, who might loose his life for the same reasons.
 
ATN Mast Climber

My previous boat, "Bossa Nova", is a MacGregor 26X trailer-sailor. I lowered and stowed the mast to do any work on it, and I could reach the masthead by standing on the outboard motor.

I use an ATN Mast Climber on my Bristol 29.9, "Halcyon". This has a seat harness on one climber's ascender and a pair of foot-loops on another. You go up and down the mast very much like the old classic child's toy with the monkey that climbs a string. It takes me a few minutes each way, but I use it more cautiously than Etienne does in his boat-show demonstrations.

(BTW I'm 5'9" and 200 lbs.)
 
neighborly request....

might i add that lots of folks want someone else to climb their masts.. i once fielded a request from a marina neighbor who wanted me to climb his mast with my mountain and mast climbing gear (2 jumar ascenders, safety line, 4:1 block and t ackle, 2 foot etriers, selfbelay device and harness..) i asked him when was the last time he'd replaced his mainsl or jib halyards (to which he was proposing i attach..)

"25 years ago but they've been working fine !

to wchich i replied , i'd rather get killed working on my own mast, thanks very much. haven't you thought about replacing those halyards??

'o no they work just fine.. ' i said well you'd be a fool to send a person up that mast of yours on a 25 y r old halyard that's been out in weather all 25 years..

later he convinced someone's kid to do it.
 
Fair comment about old halyards!
Also deck fittings , sheaves etc.
The smaller the boat, the worse the safety margin.
Test the halyards with a winch before you go up.
Or put two people's weight on it.
If you are climbing using an ascender or foot-cleat device, it works best if the halyard is secured to the foot of the mast or kicker fitting, then preloaded so it does not stretch so much as your weight goes on it.

If in doubt, use a prussik around the mast itself.
 
SAWDOC said:
Second question: what are the relative weights of the person climbing and the person on deck? If the lighter person is capable of carrying out the task aloft, on our boat that is who ascends.
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the trick is then, to make sure you are 1 pound heavier than the lightest crew member. ever heard of mutiny?
 
Jill is around four stone lighter than me but she has never been up the mast. I have been up there countless times. We use a Mastclimb, no longer made but similar to the devices posted above, one home-made and the other commercial. We find it ideal for the purpose, requiring no effort from her and total safety for me, used in conjunction with a bosuns chair.
April044.jpg
 
Graham_Wright said:
One purchaser at the London Boat Show was six foot six, wide (not fat) and his wife was five foot two and petite. Consequently it was always she who went up. She didn't mind but sometimes found she could not do the job once she reached the top.

On the other hand, he didn't like her going up at all even though it was he who tended the winch.

After trying our MastaClimba on our demo rig which they found a doddle, they bought and went away looking forward to swapping rôles.

We probably have more experience than most at ascending masts although a vast majority are on our 15 foot demo rig.

We have had feedback and experiences from a wide range of mast climbers.

Distilling this, the two most important messages (which we heartily agree with) are DO NOT EVER USE AN ELECTRIC WINCH and always wear a safety harness in your personal control.

Whatever device you use to assist your ascent, wear a separate safety harness that you can clip on (caribiner, Ascendeur or prussic) to whatever is local and with a sufficiently short range of movement to prevent a fall (rather than arrest it).

Another warning issued by a professional rigger was never ascend a mast on the hard in shores;- it is possible to dislodge the wedges by your motion at the mast head.
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I would be very interested in your product, however your website does not display properly on the PC or the iPad :(
 
aquaholic said:
I would be very interested in your product, however your website does not display properly on the PC or the iPad :(
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Shows up ok in Chrome on my Linux machine at work. I think I've looked at it on the iPad at home too. Almost certainly will have used Safari on the Mac at home and don't remember any problems.

Don't do Windows though, so can't comment on that :)

Pete
 
Digbydog said:
I have used 'Mast Mount' for 16 years. 6'1" and 15 stone. Never a moment's problem but I am not sure that they are still made. I can not find them on the net.

A stiff webbing strap, with webbing steps, which fold down as the main strap is hoisted up the sail grove, with your main halliard or topping lift and whatever type of slugs you use. Light, easy to store, if you ever see one get it.
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Digbydog said:
I have seen a 14mm halliard broken and the block at the top of the mast destroyed.
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But you advocate the use of the main halliard or topping lift even though you have seen one break :confused:
 
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